Miu Miu Fall 2016

The trend of today seems quirkly playful and all out eccentric, which is certainly what Miuccia Prada brought to the table with this season's Miu Miu collection. 
With the current grannified eccentricity vibe we are seeing at Gucci, it is no wonder that more and more designers are becoming intrigued by this movement and eager to explore the niche hype of 'heirloom dressing'.
Today, Miuccia toyed with the ideas of eclectic V modern- factoring in the old and the new. We saw the revival of the late 70s, early 80s with of course a generous dose of 50s Hollywood glamour. Think carpet tapestry maxi skirts, velour evening wear and wide array of taffeta dresses. There were also hints of the more dandy, gentrified look- waxy parkas with furred up forearms, (seen on Kendall) tweed suits + jodhpurs and lastly topped off with sartorially shaped military proportions.

Tapestry maxi

Adriana Lima

Kendall Jenner

Tweed jodhpur suits

A contributing early historical element also came into play. More a melange of the romantic and medieval era than anything. Hence the highfalutin silk velvet brocades coated in subdued pinks and turquoises, transposed onto 50's opera coats or on the full-skirts.
Although extremely romanticized, we still had a lot masculinity. Pinstripe shirts, boxer shorts, (seen on Taylor Hill) and utility jackets all worked well with the feminine pieces to mitigate the formality and at the same time up the luxuriousness.

Silk velvet brocades

Masculinized proportions

Taylor Hill

I adored those small touches that radiated this sheer sense of opulence; from the Baroque upholstered fabrics and the jewel-toned bags, to those divine ballerina dresses with asymmetrical hem-lines. Those little motifs completed the heirloom way of dressing. It is almost as if the woman has picked up what she has found at her Grandparents' house: a string of pearls, fluffy slippers, family jewels, pocket squares and copious amounts of fur.

Baroque upholstered fabrics

Ballerina Dresses

Miu Miu, being the last fashion show of Paris Fashion Week, gave us a good indication to what's in store for the future state of the house. Diversity seems to be the most accentuated trend of them all this season and it was so good to see that Miu Miu casted more models of colour. Especially models of much more resplendent, fuller shapes as well.
This was by far my favourite Miu Miu collection to date.

Please Note: I do not own any of these images, courtesy of vogue.co.uk

Balmain FW16

As many of you have probably realized, I have been a bit slow with show reviews for this season. I have decided to spread them through March and April, so please do bare with.

Today's Balmain show caused yet again a social media frenzy. As soon as Kendall Jenner appeared in a blonde wig, followed by Gigi Hadid and Jourdan Dunn, we all knew there would be a dramatic influx in both sales and popularity.
This season marked a new change in Olivier Rousteing's seemingly modernistic aesthetic. Instead of producing a collection solely oozing with raw sexuality, he created something that one could consider as 'minimal' for the house of Balmain. He approached softly, with a Baroque reference point held in mind.

Of course being Balmain we still had seductive, however it was mitigated by a pretty pastel colour palette- from subdued lilacs and mint green to baby pinks and dove greys. This colour palette perfectly complimented the new silhouettes introduced to us today. For example those pouf skirts and suede corsets amplified rich opulence, as well as the reprisal of those jewel embellished mini dresses with silk tassels we saw in the pre-fall collection.

 

Gigi Hadid in a suede corset

Jourdan Dunn ft. pouf skirt

Hints of previous seasons were also made dominant by Rousteing. Take the brocade dresses with cinched in waists, the tiered ruffles which lay on the sides of lace jumpsuits (Spring 2016) and lastly the oversized musketeer jackets in the softest of fabrics.



Karlie Kloss in lace ruffled jumpsuit

 



Oversized musketeer coat

 



I love the regalia element that fluctuated through the collection. My favourite pieces included: the gold and black encrusted bodice which exemplified the fine artistry of the house's DNA, the thigh- high suede boots and also the closing botanical dress with an interior corset structure.(Worn by Kendall).

Regalia details

Thigh-highs

 

 

Kendall in the closing look

PLEASE NOTE: I do not own any of these images, courtesy of Vogue.co.uk